AKC has a whole legilative task force one of the bigger things that AKC fees go for is to protect dog owner rights. AKC is not in support of mandatory spay/neuter laws, or BSL laws. They are probably the biggest defender of owner rights. You can check updates for your area on the home page of their website. It is important to keep up to date on these laws.

A big supporter of those laws is the Humane Society, which is why I no longer support them in any way.

People should know that when they donate to the Humane Society a big portion of the funds go to legal projects like this AND NOT TO ACTUALLY HELPING ANIMALS.

Maybe instead of enacting the spay/neuter law into affect, they should make all potential breeders pass a test. Its amazing how many people are actually breeding, that do not know even the basics of it. Just reading some of the post on this site alone, is a testament to that .

If you are a dog and your owner suggests that you wear a sweater, suggest that he wear a tail.

In the City of St. Louis (where I live) you pay $4 for a license for a neutered pet and $40 for an unneutered one. This has really helped us out, it is not really punitive and it raises funds for the city Animal Control.

Granted, many people simply don't license their pets, but an unlicensed pet can be confiscated and it has been done.

I am sad to say that we have a pretty bad dog fighting scene here and as a result most shelters, including the Humane Society, will not place pit bulls. The reasoning is not that they're bad dogs. It is simply that they don't want the dogs falling into the wrong hands.

We have several pit bull only rescues, but they are full to overflowing and frequently have to turn away lovely dogs. And yet, every weekend there are up to 15 ads for pit bull puppies...

Pope, education has been tried and tried. Bob Barker ended each and every one of his "Price is Right" shows by saying "spay or neuter." The Humane Society has tried education (paid for by private money). Animal Planet has tried education (paid for by private money). Various speakers have gone to schools. Shelters require that pets be neutered.

All of this has worked--but not enough.

The California approach allows people who breed dogs to obtain "permits" to have breeding stock, so not every dog is required to be neutered.

I agree that education is necessary, but there are many, many people who are not planning to listen to anything positive. They are just planning to do whatever they want, whenever they want.